The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-07-28

which undoubtedly is the noxious agent IN
most of the cases of cheese, milk ana Ice
cream poisoning. Two years ago, aIter
long and close investigation, he succeeded IN
lsolating from some samples of cheese when
had produced alarming symphonic In many
persons, highly poisonous ptomaine, TO
which he gave the name tgrOt0IicO7l cheese
poison. The effects of this poison were re-
peatedly demonstrated upon some OF his stu
dents, who offered themselves as subjects of
experimentation. and upon himself. The
symptoms produced were found to agree
closely with those which were produced In
the persons who had eaten the poisonous
cheese, and were dryness and construction OF
the fauces, nausea. retching, vomiting and
purging.
For an account of further investigations
and experiments in this direction, quote at
considerable length from a contribution by
Dr. Vaughan to the Sanitary News of July
"a, 1885,
ounce bottle partly filed with milk which had stood
tightly closed with glass stopper for about six
months. From this succeeded in isolating the
same poison. 1t was recognized by its crystalline
appearance, and by its effect upon myself 1t was
presumed that this milk was normal In compost
ton when first obtained, butof this we could not
1 then put several gallons of normal milk in per-
fectly clean bottles with glass shoppers, and al
lowed these to stand IN my work room. From time
to time bottle was opened and the test for tyro-
toxicon was made These tests were followed by
negative results, UNTIL ABOUT tIrte mOulnS dlter
the experiment was begun. / then succeeded in
getting the poison from one of the bottles. The
method of testing for 1t was as follows: The CO.
aguiateu milk was filtered through heavy Swedish
hitter paper: The iltrate was colorless, and de-
cidedly acid In reaction. 1t was rendered feebly
then agtaied with ether. After Separation, the
ethereal layer was removed with pipette allowed
to run through Dry filter paper to remove a foe
culent. white substance which f0ated In II, and
then allowed to evaporate spontaneously. If
necessary this residue was dissolved In water
on y ts e r M me
by its crystalline appearance by its odor, and by
placing small bit on the tongue. As the ether
takes up some water, there is usually enough of
the latter left after the spontaneous evaporation
OF the ether to hold the poison in solution and in
order to obtain the crystals this aqueous solution
over suphuric acid.
From one-half gallon Of the milk there was OBJ
the poison, after the spontaneous EVAPORATION Of
the ether. Ten drops of this solution placed In
the mouth OF small dog three weeks old caused
within few minutes. trothing, retching, the yom
ting of frothy fluid, muscular spasms over the alb
domen, and after some hours watery stools The
next day the dog seemed to have partially recoy-
cred but was unable to retain any food. This
condition continuing for two or three days, the
animal was killed with chloroform. No examina-
ton OF the stomach was made.
IL may be remarked here that have elsewhere
pointed out the necessity of using pure ether for
these extractions, as some samples of ether con-
tain an irritating ptomaine-like substance
June Is, 1885, received from DIR. Henry b.
Baker, Secretary of the Michigan State Board of
Health, pint bottle about tw0-thrds full of melt
Cd Ice cream, with the request that 1 analyze it,
as some eighteen persons had been seriously af-
fected by eating it, Dr. Baker also sent some Of
the vanilla which had been used as fiayoring 1t
was thought that the poison would be found in
the vanilla, because some lemon ice cream fur
nished at the same gathering had not affected
those who ate II. As the readiest means of decid-
ing this my assistant, Mr.. MOVIE, and myself took
at first thirty drops each of the vanilla extract
No Ill effects following this, Mr.. Movie took two
teaspoonfus more, with no results. This settled
the question of the poisonous nature Of the yanil
la more satisfactorily than could have been done
by chemical analysis.
"We then added some distilled water to the
cream and. after thorough agitation filtered ii.
The fltrate was tested for tyrotoxcon by the
method already given. The aqueous solution
was given 10 cat. Within ten minutes the cat
began TO reich. and soon it vomited. This reich
ing and vomiting continued for two hours, during
which time the animal was under observation, and
the next morning it was observed that it had
passed watery stools. After this although the
cat could walk about the room, it was unable
to retain any food. Several times 1t was observed
to lap little milk, but on doing so It would i'm
mediately begin TO reich and vomit. Even cold
water produced this effect. This condition con-
tinulng after three days the animal was placed
We certainly expected to find marked infiamma-
tion of the stomach. But we really did find the
stomach and small intestines filed with frothy
serious fluid, such as had formed the vomited mat
ter, and the mucous membrane very wkite and
set There was not the slightest zedness any
where. The liver and other abdominal organs
seemed to be normal"